


An Eternity in a Night

by A_Thousand_Skies (cywscross)



Series: Dr. Stone Oneshots [2]
Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Counting Fic, Don't copy to another site, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-27 11:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21391756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cywscross/pseuds/A_Thousand_Skies
Summary: Nights are hard for Senkuu. Gen and Ryuusui try to make them less so.
Relationships: Asagiri Gen/Ishigami Senkuu, Asagiri Gen/Ishigami Senkuu/Nanami Ryuusui, Asagiri Gen/Nanami Ryuusui, Ishigami Senkuu/Nanami Ryuusui
Series: Dr. Stone Oneshots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542208
Comments: 10
Kudos: 277





	An Eternity in a Night

**Author's Note:**

> For the [100prompts challenge on DW](https://100prompts.dreamwidth.org/).
> 
> [**Prompt:** 049\. Writer's Choice - Count](https://cywscross.dreamwidth.org/17140.html)
> 
> [Cross-Posted from Tumblr](https://a-stone-world-saga.tumblr.com/post/188877013826/gen-has-always-been-a-heavy-sleeper-especially)

Gen has always been a heavy sleeper, especially back before the Petrification. The time he spent in Tsukasa’s empire cured some of that - it was difficult to fully rest when you never knew when a mentally unstable ruler might change his mind about you, and then - later - as an actual spy for Senkuu, it was hardly wise to sleep without at least one eye open.

It’s better these days though, in the peace found in Senkuu’s kingdom when nobody decides to stay up late to blow things up for fun, but even Gen can’t sleep through the low murmur of voices right next to him as they drag him from his slumber.

Gen blinks his eyes open and stares blearily at the ceiling for a moment, and then he jerks halfway into a sitting position when the words finally register in his brain.

“-not stone anymore, you’re okay, you’re with us,” Ryuusui is saying, voice pitched low and calm in a way it almost never is during the day. Gen looks over and finds him propped up on one elbow while his opposite hand runs soothingly through Senkuu’s hair over and over.

On the other hand, Senkuu’s still obviously asleep, but his brow is knitted with enough stress to pull at his scars, and even dead to the world, he’s mumbling almost feverishly, “..._117,303,208,852 seconds... 117,303,208,860 seconds... 117,303,208,868 seconds...”_

Gen feels his heart sink.

“He hasn’t stopped since I woke up two minutes ago,” Ryuusui says, and Gen glances up to meet the grim set of the shipwright’s expression. “And I don’t know how long he was counting before that.”

“I usually wake him if he really can’t stop,” Gen whispers back, reaching over to touch the hunched curve of Senkuu’s shoulder before finding his hand instead and gently tangling their fingers together.

Ryuusui sighs with equal parts frustration and concern. “This is the first time he’s slept in four days. I’m... not sure if we should.”

Uncertainty is not in Ryuusui’s nature, and that worries Gen almost as much as the counting. He’s known - longer than Ryuusui - of Senkuu’s subconscious tendency for counting seconds like his very life depends on it, but even Gen’s efforts to ease the scientist’s sleep are usually hit-and-miss.

This is only Ryuusui’s second time witnessing it though, so Gen supposes it’s not so surprising that the man is floundering. Ryuusui’s not used to being without _some_ kind of solution.

(The first time had been on the _Perseus_, and Ryuusui had woken Gen with an uneasy sort of controlled panic. Senkuu had jolted awake on his own that time, and Gen hadn’t seen him sleep again until after the Ibara crisis was over.)

They both listen to the murmured numbers for a few moments more - “..._117,303,208,928 seconds... 117,303,208,936 seconds... 117,303,208,944 seconds...”_ \- and then it gets too macabre for even Gen’s tolerance.

It’s not like he _minds_ the sleep-talking; he wouldn’t if it was _just_ that. But he hates that those 3715 years Senkuu spent wide awake in total sense-deprived darkness are still torturing the man to this day. He hates even more that there isn’t really anything he or Ryuusui or anyone else can do to fix it.

(On occasion, Gen wishes that Senkuu had let himself sleep, let his mind fade to black like the rest of them did, if only for his own sake. But then, if that had happened, all of them would probably still be petrified right now, and the modern world as they knew it would’ve died with their eternal slumber. Senkuu saved them all, but... well, this is the cost - sleepless nights until even fear is overwhelmed by exhaustion, and then counting, counting, counting, as if the tick of a clock is the only thing left for him to hold onto in a world that left them all behind. It’s not always, not every time he sleeps, but it’s enough to make Gen _loathe_ it.)

Gen sighs and gives Senkuu’s hand a squeeze before crawling out from under their blankets. “One second, I’ll be right back.”

He clambers down from the hut as Ryuusui resumes his previous stream of quiet reassurances, and Gen tries to be quick, hurrying into the woods, towards a clearing bursting with black nightshades. He hasn’t replenished his own stock yet, after weaving flower crowns with the children all day. Besides, for this, freshly picked flowers are better anyway.

He gathers a small bouquet of them now before jogging back to their sleeping quarters. Technically, it’s the biggest hut - relatively newly built - and reserved for Senkuu as the village chief, but nobody blinked when Gen joined him there most nights, and then - later - they likewise took it in stride after the _Perseus _came back from their war against Treasure Island and Ryuusui permanently moved in with them.

Gen will say one thing about this future that he doesn’t think their past would’ve ever allowed, certainly not in their lifetimes - Senkuu’s Kingdom of Science has become the leading beacon of the Stone World, and every new thing he introduces to it as _normal_ or _right_ is accepted with far more open minds. People listen to his opinions and follow the examples he sets every day, knowingly or not - Francois has been _they _and _them_ to literally everyone since Ryuusui implied it and Senkuu accepted it without a hitch, nobody calls science ‘sorcery’ anymore and Chrome hasn’t been considered an outcast for a good few years now, and just the other day, Kohaku about gave her father heart failure by proclaiming she was _asexual_ and _aromantic_ and she was never ever ever getting married, _ever_.

The Stone World is a harder place to live in than the modern world was, but with Senkuu at its helm, it is in some ways so much easier - so much _kinder_ \- too.

Now if only they could make a miracle for Senkuu as effortlessly as Senkuu’s repeatedly done for them.

Gen scrambles back up the ladder and ducks back inside. It’s summer so they’ve left the curtain over one of the windows rolled up, and it lets enough moonlight in to see by. Ryuusui’s stopped talking, and he’s moved since Gen left, sitting up against the wall that their mattress is parked against, blankets pooled at his waist with Senkuu’s half-curled over his lap.

Senkuu, who’s still asleep and still counting, but tossing and turning a little as well, as if new nightmares have invaded his mind. Ryuusui has an arm wrapped around Senkuu, fingers digging into the fabric of the scientist’s shirt, tightly enough to turn his knuckles white. He head is tipped forward, blond hair tumbling around his bare shoulders and casting his face in shadows, but the rigid angry line of his body is clear enough.

There is little Ryuusui hates more than _helplessness_.

Still, his eyes are sharp and demanding when they glance up to meet Gen’s, but he remains ominously silent and only observes as Gen shuffles back onto their bed and holds the flowers to Senkuu’s face.

“Come back, Senkuu-chan,” Gen murmurs, brushing his fingers over the restless frown on Senkuu’s face. “We’re here. You’re safe. You’re free. Come back to us.”

It’s a little awkward, what with the position Senkuu is lying in at the moment, but Gen presses as close as possible to his back anyway, resting a warm hand against it, waiting.

And this time at least, the flowers work. Gradually, Senkuu’s tense frame relaxes, his features soften, his breathing slows, and the seconds finally stop.

(They don’t, Gen knows, not really. Some small distant corner of Senkuu’s mind _never stops counting_, and it’s as amazing as it is horrifying. But so long as it stays in that distant corner and doesn’t take Senkuu over the way it can and just did, then Gen will have to let it be.)

Senkuu’s eyelids flutter for a moment, and he mutters something that sounds like _Gen_, but he doesn’t wake, and eventually, he’s fully asleep again, curled up peacefully between them. Like this, the bags under his eyes are almost invisible.

Gen and Ryuusui don’t need words as they lie down properly again, careful not to disturb Senkuu as they tuck him between them once more. Gen moves the flowers to the top of Senkuu’s pillow so that the fragrance remains, and then he tugs the blankets up over their shoulders again.

It’s quiet, as they settle, but Ryuusui says into the dark, “What did you call those? Nightshades?”

Gen hums a soft confirmation. “Black nightshades. There are plenty growing around here.” Senkuu’s on his side, facing Gen, head tucked down to rest against Gen’s shoulder, almost like a bird. Gen slides an arm over him, and then adds, to Ryuusui, “It doesn’t always work. Sometimes, I have to wake him. I think... It’s usually better than leaving him counting like that.”

He senses more than sees Ryuusui’s nod. A moment later, the mattress shifts with the shipwright’s weight as Ryuusui spoons up behind Senkuu, and then a heavier arm slings over both of them, fingers tickling down Gen’s back before coming to a rest.

“Francois makes a mean tea,” Ryuusui tells him. “Some of them are good for getting people to sleep better. I’ll ask them about it in the morning.”

This time it’s Gen who nods. He doesn’t know if tea will help, but if there’s even the slightest possibility, then they should at least try it. “Thank you, Ryuusui-chan.”

Of course, Ryuusui’s response is a scoff, albeit a mindfully quiet one. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re both mine, so neither of you are allowed to remain upset. It wouldn’t reflect well on me, you know.”

Gen huffs a laugh. “I see. My, how possessive.”

Ryuusui snorts, and his hand curls briefly around Gen’s hip before letting go again. “Don’t pretend you aren’t just as possessive as I am. And Senkuu practically _collects_ people.”

Gen giggles a little at the mental image that provides. “Well I suppose it’s a good thing I don’t mind being kept.”

Ryuusui makes a similarly amused noise that even now still teeters on the brink of something like surprise.

Nanami Ryuusui, a free spirit through and through, and some people might’ve called him tamed once upon a time, if they could see him now, but Senkuu would never reduce them to something so _boring_, and so Gen thinks it’s more that Ryuusui has finally found a home to dock in.

Well, haven’t they all?

No further exchanges flow between them. Senkuu sleeps on, untroubled, and Ryuusui’s breathing deepens as he too nods off.

Gen is content to follow.


End file.
